The 2007 Virginia Humanities Conference meets at Christopher NewportUniversity in Newport News, VA on Friday-Saturday, March 30-31, 2007.The theme is "Jamestown 2007 and the Invention of America: Reality andFiction." VHC invites scholars and artists from all disciplines topropose papers, panels or similar sessions by mailing, faxing, oremailing a one-to-two-page abstract to George Hillow, President of theVirginia Humanities Conference, Theater Department, Christopher NewportUniversity, One University Place, Newport News, VA 23606; FAX757-594-7389; hillow_at_cnu.edu. The deadline for abstracts is December15, 2006.

Theme Explanation:Walt Whitman called America a "nation of nations." But 400 years afterJamestown's founding, what and who has our nation become? What portionof our national self-concept is real, and what portion is fictional?The invention of America led to ephochal results, but how do we fairlyevaluate those results? What was our original trajectory 400 yearsago? Where are we now, and where are we heading? The 20th Century hasbeen called the American century, but what will our role be in the21st? Will Yankee ingenuity continue to reinvent America? How do wemeasure up to the Jeffersonian ideals of "life, liberty and the pursuitof happiness" for all? Where do the humanities fit in?